The almost complete fossilized remains of a Stegosaurus fetched $44.6 million at auction on Wednesday, Sotheby’s said. The name of the buyer was not disclosed.
The fossil, named “Apex,” is considered one of the most complete ever found, according to the auction house.
The price exceeded the estimate of $4 to $6 million and the previous auction record for dinosaur fossils – $31.8 million for the remains of a Tyrannosaurus Rex nicknamed Stansold in 2020.
Apex “has now taken its place in history, some 150 million years after it roamed the planet,” said Cassandra Hatton, who heads Sotheby’s science-related business.
The sale of dinosaur fossils has frustrated academic paleontologists, who say the specimens belong in museums or research centers that cannot afford high auction prices.
According to Sotheby’s, the anonymous buyer is an American who wants to explore the possibility of lending Apex to an institution in the USA. The buyer beat out six other bidders.
The Stegosaurus was one of the most striking dinosaurwith sharp plates on its back. Hatton has called Apex “a coloring book dinosaur” due to its well-preserved features.
Standing 3.3 meters tall and 8.2 meters long from nose to tail, Apex was a large stegosaurus that lived long enough to show signs of arthritis, Sotheby’s said.
A commercial paleontologist named Jason Cooper discovered the fossil in 2022 on his property near the town of Dinosaur, Colorado. The small community is near Dinosaur National Monument and the Utah border.